Last year's disaster medical expenses were the largest ever
Feb 21, 2025
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The Ministry of Health and Welfare and the National Health Insurance Service said that the performance of disaster medical expenses support projects in 2024 has increased significantly.
The disaster medical cost support project is a system that provides some (80% to 50%) of medical expenses in the event of disaster medical expenses that are excessive compared to household income levels, and has been in full swing since 2018. Since July 2018, medical expenses have been provided centering on all diseases for hospitalization and severe diseases that are burdensome for outpatients, and from 2023, the target diseases, property standards, medical expenses support standards, and calculation standards have been continued to be improved.
As a result of this system improvement, the number of disaster medical expenses supported in 2024 was 57,735 cases (51.1% increase from the previous year) and the amount was 158.2 billion won (56.6% increase from the previous year), the highest ever. The average amount of support per total case also increased partially compared to 2023 (301 million won → 3.12 million won, 3.7% ↑). In detail, the average amount of support per case increased by 4.4% (2.51 million won → 2.62 million won) for those with 50% or less of the standard median income, and the average amount of support per case for seven serious diseases such as cancer, cerebrovascular disease, heart disease, and rare disease increased by 2.8% (3.89 million won → 4 million won).
The budget for the disaster medical expenses support project in 2025 was set at 142.4 billion won, and it plans to continue its role as a medical safety net for the people.
This article was translated by Naver AI translator.
